The Binding Force
by LegionOfMisfits
Summary: It is a time of civil upheaval as the galaxy is once again thrust into interstellar conflict between the Galactic Republic - still weak after the devastation they suffered at the hands of the Sith eleven years earlier - and the expansive, oppressive Empire. But the force works in mysterious ways, and from the ashes rise four who will change the galaxy forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Ruby Rose grinned at the rising sun, watching the immense red globe creep over the edge of the horizon as dawn's rosy fingers stretched over the surface of the world. The great grass sea swirled with a light breeze and thin, rosy clouds cut the reddening sky into bloody ribbons.

Rising slowly from her perch atop the plain, brown clay house, she leapt down the slightly-slanted roof and landed gracefully, the familiar feeling of her flight suit forming and moving around her like a second skin. She jogged excitedly across the field that surrounded the modest farm, checking in one shuddered window and checking to make sure her father was still abed. Indeed, Taiyang yet slept - snoring thunderously and Ruby smiled, pressing her palm to the shudders softly in the way she always did before going out. Wishing him good rest and silently bidding him farewell until they met again.

She turned and darted away from the farmhouse, following the familiar dirt path cut through the shoulder-high grass. Everywhere she looked she saw the same sage-green grass - jungles dividing the orderly, darker green rows that denoted farmers' fields. Soon he air began to hum with thousands of sounds - Grazers loaning, insects humming in the tall grass. Notably absent were the sounds of land speeders carrying farmers to and from their work, or the sound of heavy machinery reaping and harvesting the hearty, wheat-like stalks that thrived in Mandell's soil.

The small farming town soon loomed over the grassy knolls - a collection of fifty or so homes built of the same clay in varying shades of brown. Moisture vaporators stuck up from the clear-cut earth like bristling hairs, and figures bustled about the town, preparing for the day's festivities.

It was a Bothan holiday. Ruby didn't fully understand what it was about - the language of her silken-furred neighbors was still a mystery to her after all these years. Taiyang said it had something to do with independence, but he also urged Ruby not to interfere. Despite their usual tolerance of outsiders, the quiet farmers of this world found the presence of other races - especially the two quiet humans - a little curious, if not outright suspicious. Ruby supposed she couldn't blame them. If half the things she picked up listening in on

She made her way into the village quickly, passing by shopkeepers decorating the facades of their stores and running errands. She stepped out of the path of a landspeeder and continued on her way towards the old building at the far end of the town.

According to Taiyang, the old building was a warehouse that used to store all the harvested crops from the surrounding farms. As people started building their own underground silos to contain the recently collected grains however, the old building gradually fell out of use. One night a fire ripped through old compound, the flames leaving only a gutted shell. Nobody went towards the old storage shed now - who had the time, let alone the reason, to do so? Most folks assumed that the large structure at the north end of the town was just a vacant lot, scarred from fire and abandoned by those who built it.

It was perfect.

Ruby checked over her shoulder a couple times as she moved deftly around the edge of the building, making sure nobody was watching or following. She skipped over the wide, retracting door and continued to the back of the building. Another immense door was located here, but Ruby ignored it and went through the smaller maintenance door by the side. The door was locked - as per usual - but a bit of scrounging in a patch of scraggly brush off to the side revealed the etched key card. Slipping the rectangular object into the lock, she waited and listened for the click before stepping inside. A rush of chill air, cooled overnight and laced with the familiar scents of coolant and burnt metal washed over her.

She closed and locked the door behind her, deftly sliding the key under the door and into the brush on the other side once more. She turned and nearly jumped out of her skin at a pair of orange eyes gazing at her from the dim interior of the warehouse.

"Gah! Eth! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

From deep in the gloom, the Zabrak grinned, pointed teeth bared in a sign of bemusement that had become less and less intimidating as the years went by. He stepped out, the thin light filtering through filthy windows illuminating his tanned skin and the dark brown tattoo lines that etched his face. He stepped to the wall and flipped a heavy switch, filling the expansive interior with artificial light.

Now it was Ruby's turn to smile as the familiar surroundings took shape in the light. High shelves stacked with parts and tools - scavenged and salvaged from aging farm machines and scrapped landspeeders. The Zabrak turned away from Ruby and returned to what he had been working on - an exposed panel of mechanics and wiring connected to something immense and beautiful, hidden from prying eyes beneath an expansive white tarp. He knelt and went to work on the panel, hands deftly organizing and reorganizing the tangle of inner workings with practiced motions.

Ruby knelt beside him, peering into the belly of the Zabrak's subject. "Have you been working on the atmospheric stabilizers?" she asked, trying not to let her excitement show.

Eth sighed. "I've been doing what I can, but Ruby I-"

"Will it work?" she inquired giddily, no longer concerned about disguising her anticipation. Eth held up a hand, forestalling further questions.

"I've been working on it for a while now, but I haven't had a chance to test either of them. Ruby, you need to understand - this isn't something that we can afford to make mistakes with. So far we've limited ourselves to low-altitude flights for good reason, but if there's a failure testing these in atmo-"

"Yeah yeah," she said impatiently, "engine failure, plummet, high likelihood of a fiery death - Eth, _I get it,_ but will it _work_?"

The Zabrak sighed. "I told you, I don't know. I haven't had a chance to test it. In any case, we need to go - the festivities are starting soon and we need to get these babies," he patted the side of the tarped goliath appreciatively, "out of the area before there's too big a crowd to avoid drawing attention. Besides, it's been a couple weeks since we flew last - better to get some low-alt time in before we try anything extreme."

Ruby was disappointed but understood where her friend was coming from. A knock came from the nearby end of the warehouse - on the other side of the huge metal door. Eth and Ruby both froze before they heard the telltale pattern of the knocking and Eth breathed a sigh of relief. "It's Cardin," he said. "I told him to go get the landspeeder. C'mon."

The immense metal portcullis ground open as quietly as a bucket of oil allowed it to, revealing the broad figure of Cardin Winchester. The heavyset human was tapping his foot expectantly, but his dour expression brightened slightly at the sight of his friends.

Cardin as a few years older than Ruby or Eth, and was a farmer through-and-through. He was the eldest of eight children and lived on a small farm about twenty kilometers north of the village. Like Eth, he had met and bonded with Ruby over their mutual status as foreigners to the predominantly-Bothan world. Cardin wasn't a technological prodigy like his friends, and the very concept of flying instilled in him a fear that few things could. Despite these, Cardin was powerful and smarter than he let on, and had proved more than once to be a good friend to both a Ruby and Eth.

"We need to go," he said simply, grabbing a tow cable and connecting the front of the tarped machine to the back of the stocky landspeeder. Eth and Ruby quickly went to work gathering everything they would need for a flight before shutting the doors of the warehouse as Rast pulled the precious cargo out. The door shut and sealed and Ruby and Eth jumped in the back of the landspeeder, all three and their belongings disappearing into the grass before anyone could spot them or ask questions.

The landspeeder moved at a pace bordering on ponderous for several kilometers - out into the deep grasses where no farmers had seen fit to establish themselves. The grass here was shorter - cut down or pressed flat by thoroughfare in a large, roughly-circular patch. The landspeeder keener to a halt and the trio stepped out, going to work quickly stripping down and setting up the tarped masterpiece. Ruby grinned as she and Eth finally removed the covering, revealing their pride and joy beneath.

On a heavy flatbed, equipped with repulsorlifts to propel it above the ground, were two old starships. Decades, if not centuries old, the two old birds meant more than anything else in Ruby or Eth's eyes. Battered, patchwork, paint-and-oil-spattered jumpships.

Beautiful.

The final checks were performed with practiced actions and before long Ruby found herself clambering up the side of her ship, pulling on a helmet and settling into the familiar seat. It wasn't designed for comfort, but she loved it, and the array of dials, switches, gauges and levers laid out before her in the cockpit gave her a rush of giddiness she found it hard to explain.

A crackle in her ear informed her that Eth had switched on his commlink, and she turned on her own, speaking several times into the helmet's internal microphone to ensure that all was working correctly. When the Zabrak's voice chirped back to her in her ear, she smiled and flashed a thumbs up before lowering the cockpit and sealing it in place.

Preflight checks went off without a hitch. Engines were stable, coolant running clean, fuel was plentiful and stabilizers were working. Dampeners were green, comms were green, all across the board lights showed green. Ruby cracked her knuckles and flexed her hands over the controls of the starship. Outside Cardin shook his head, wondering how his friends could get so much enjoyment out of what he had repeatedly referred to as "deathtraps."

With a surge of excitement, Ruby flipped her favorite switch and felt the earth fall away as the ship slowly rose into the air. The fields of wheat dwindled as she climbed, and soon she found herself gazing at blue sky all around. Grinning like a madwoman and slamming the accelerator forward, the ship shot off.

The skies all around rushed by, clouds and earth alike soaring past. Ruby angled her ship's bearing north - away from her home - and let the course take her where it may. She relished the feeling of the controls and cheered into her helmet's commlink, eliciting an outburst of Eth.

"Ruby! Slow down! Stay with me, OK? Don't get yourself into any trouble if I'm not there to help." Ruby ignored him, blazing through the sky and dropping lower down towards the earth. The grass gradually gave way to rockier, rougher terrain. Low canyons began to dig into the earth, and soon spires of red-brown rock began to rise, forming twisted spires and wide arches. Ruby dived into this new challenge with gusto, her ship zipping through the spaces and darting among the sharp cliffs and bluffs.

She heard the hum of repulsors from outside her own ship and looked over her shoulder to see Eth's own craft hovering above her own, safely out of the canyon's twists and turns. "Ruby!" he cried over the comm. "Be careful; the adjustments I made to your stabilizers might have had an effect on your dampeners - slow down!"

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what this was like!" Ruby hooted in response. She tweaked the controls of the ship just a little and in response the craft knife-edged through the gap between a pair of rocky columns. The ventral and dorsal sides of her ship passed within feet of the rocks on either side and the proximity alert howled inside the cockpit. It had a hard time eclipsing Ruby's own cry of triumph.

She pulled up and found herself coasting several hundred meters above the ground again. Eth's ship pulled up alongside hers.

"Don't even get me started on how stupid that was," he said, shooting her a disapproving look through the space between their craft. Beneath her helmet, Ruby beamed.

"Got one more trick I'd like to try out," she said mischievously. Eth obviously knew what she was thinking.

"Ruby, don't even think about it - if you try to break atmo with this thing, you'll be lucky if you turn into a fireball and plummet back to the ground. In all likelihood, before that you'll suffocate, freeze and implode. Come on, Ruby - use your head here."

"Trust me, Eth," she said, "I've thought about this for a long time." With that, she began to ease the controls into an upward path. The craft began to climb steadily, altimeter showing the number rising at a ludicrous pace. The cloud layer broke away and the sky began to darken - blue faded to grey, grey to black. A million glowing pinpricks dotted the horizon and the inside of the cockpit grew very, very warm.

Ruby felt a bead of sweat roll down the inside of her helmet, but she pressed on. Superheated air pressed at the outsides of the cockpit and a wave of fire seemed to wash over the craft. A brief check over her shoulder showed another fireball in hot pursuit. So Eth had decided to follow. Good. He needed to loosen up a bit.

Atmosphere broke like a glass dome and Ruby found herself gazing at the siren stars in a whole new way. The worldly bonds of her home fell away like velvet slipping between her fingers, and she instead found herself gazing out at the immense mural of burning, shimmering pinpricks sewn amidst the immeasurable black void.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the Zabrak asked over the comm. Ruby could only nod inside her own helmet. "After all these years," Eth said, "I've never forgotten what it looks like. It was barely a child when I came here, but it hasn't changed. Still wide. Powerful. Incredible."

"Yeah," was all Ruby could say. Eth sighed into his transmitter.

"We should get back, Ruby. Sooner or later our families are going to start wondering what's become of us. Besides, I don't want to keep Cardin away from his lot too long either." Again, Ruby nodded, still overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the galaxy.

"One of these days," she said, "I'm going to see it all."

"What all?" Eth asked her and Ruby took her hands off the controls only for a moment to gesture at the space that surrounded them.

"This. The galaxy. All those stars and the planets and the people… Eth, I'm going to see it all. Even if it takes me the rest of my life."

There was a long silence before she finally looked over and saw that Eth had removed his helmet inside his cockpit. His head was bare beneath the light of the sun and the innumerable distant stars and he turned to look at her and smiled.

"Come on," he said again.

They had just begun to bring their ships about when Ruby felt something for the first time. It would not be the last, nor was it anywhere near the most potent example of the strange, mysterious force that bound and acted on all things. But it was the first, and because of that and what happened next, Ruby would never be able to forget.

It started as a strange feeling; fingers running down her spine and triggering something deep within her. Instantly her eyes began to dart about, searching frantically for the source of the disturbance. She did not have to look for long. Space itself warped and crackled before a thunderclap echoed across the empty expanse of space and Ruby's vision of the stars was eclipsed by death and destruction.

The ship was gargantuan - a thousand times the size of Ruby or Eth's craft and painted all over with strange symbols. Its hull was black and cruelly shaped, and red lights glowed from within cracks and fissures on the surface of the vessel - shining through like blood seeping from a wound.

"By the living stars," Eth said in amazement through the commlink. It was only moments later that the other ships appeared. They poured from within the immense vessel like insects disturbed from their hive. They swarmed outward; brutal, knife-shaped craft bristling with armament that immediately began descending to the world below. Ruby broke out of her lockjaw for a moment to register what was happening.

"It's the Sith!"

* * *

**AN -** So this is something that I crammed together in one day, due to my noticing a series of pictures on the RWBY subreddit of the main cast in the Star Wars universe. So, I made this. In a way, this chapter functions similarly to the "Red" trailer, in that it introduces Ruby and gives us our first glimpse at a galaxy far far away, soon to be shaped by four colorful young ladies.

On the story side, what did you think? It only occured to me once I started writing that Star Wars and RWBY are perfectly set up for a crossover fic, and I'm excited to be working on this as a side project when I'm not collaborating with my friend Al_Hats on our other fic "Bellringer" (which RWBY fans should totally check out something something shameless self-promotion).

I make no promises with release schedule but I'll try to get a chapter of this out when I'm not busy with other things. So until next time, thanks for reading, and may the force be with you.

**Discrepancies and Notes**

_When_ \- This story is set around the end of the Jedi-Sith cold war and the resumption of conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, circa 3642 BBY. For those of you who don't care to do the math, this is roughly the same time as the "Old Republic" MMORPG. The Jedi and Sith are in an uneasy stalemate after the Sith nearly decimated the Republic in the Great Galactic War and the last few years have been fraught with tension, fear and uncertainty interlaced with border skirmishes and proxy wars. The mid and outer rim are largely lawless and nobody expects the peace to last long. Unfortunately for them, they're right.

_Who_ \- Just like RWBY, the story will focus on four young girls shaped by (and actively shaping) the course of the re-emerging conflict. Without giving away anything about the other three, you can already see that in Ruby we have our classic "Farm boy/girl learns how to fly and ends up getting caught up in the middle of a galactic war, which they may or may not tip the balance of because they may or may not be force-sensitive." Sound familiar? It should - that's basically the plot of A New Hope. Expect lots of repurposing of side characters from RWBY (you already met Cardin) into their new environment and plenty of antics and action to come from that.

_How_ \- I plan to keep this as true to the Star Wars source material as possible, at least insofar as the structure of galactic politics, military and the actions that occurred throughout the course of the conflict that we find ourselves introduced to rather quickly. The chapters will alternate between the POV's of the four principle RWBY characters and will occasionally overlap. You'll just have to wait and see ;)

**Please be sure to leave a review and give me whatever feedback you have to offer. Next time, we meet the second of our protagonists and take a backseat as she… goes to work.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Weiss Schnee grimaced every time the lights flashed by the window.

The glaring beams set forth by the passing airspeeders as they hummed, whirred and buzzed past the 53rd-story window were almost too much to bear. Almost. She sat at the imported wooden table and took a sip of the expensive wine set on the table before her. It was a decent vintage, but any and everything grown on her homeworld would put it to shame.

The lift did not chime - indeed, it seemed to grunt and cough - as the doors slid open. A muscular man with a shaved head and garbed in finery stepped out, looking utterly out of place in such a city as this.

Two austere gentlemen in simpler attired flanked him on the way in and took up positions on either side of the lift, their eyes fixed on the table and their hands never straying far from their gun belts. She smiled as the man found a seat at the table, his burly form filling the simple chair that had been set out for the two diners.

"Lady Schnee," the man said in a polite voice, the tone beneath barely disguised.

"Moff Harriser. You are kind to have accepted this meeting on such short notice. You know how complex these things can be, and in our line of business surely it is better to take care of matters before they get out of hand."

Harriser nodded, blockish jaw bobbing on muscular neck. "Quite right, of course. I am always happy to accommodate another of His Majesty's agents."

Weiss smiled as the lift bucked again and a pair of nervous-looking aliens stepped out - a Rodian and a Bith. They brought a tray of food forward and laid it on the table, removing the lid and revealing a pleasing display of assorted fruits and meats. Weiss smiled and helped herself to a large, violet fruit and used a knife laid on the table to split the shell open. She pried apart the two halves and scooped a generous helping of the gourd's vermillion innards.

Harriser chose to merely take a hearty sip of his own wine and nibble on the edge of a cut of meat while he waited for the discussion to reach its true worth. Finally, after several moments of wordless stalemate, Weiss indulged the shavepate officer.

"Nar Shaddaa is much as I remember it from my last visit. I trust that the Hutts have been cooperative with our agenda?"

Harrier all-but scoffed. "The Hutts are a bunch of spineless cheats. A bit of pressure and the blasted worms were all-too willing to accept our terms. After all, even a slug knows when it's beaten." Weiss listened to the Moff prattle on about the Hutts for a while longer. Xenophobia was common among His Majesty's Empire, and though Weiss was no more hostile towards aliens than any other, there were still those like Harriser who took every opportunity to affirm their superiority in all manner of things. It didn't matter if the superiority in question was in capacity of mind, body or possession of a backbone.

"Your dedication and persistence in securing this deal is admirable," she said as genuinely as she could manage. "You must understand better than most how important this deal was, and you performed beyond expectations. His Majesty would undoubtedly be very pleased with your service."

Halliser let a cocky smile grace his otherwise plain features, but a touch of wariness was also plain in his eyes. Imperial Agents were to be trusted as far as they could be thrown, and though he was a man of great physical acumen, Halliser had no desire to take chances. Agent Schnee's reputation preceded her. Youth or no, she was undoubtedly one of His Majesty's premier agents, and had an impressive array of commendations to her name.

Many of those commendations were earned through performing actions that others were unable or unwilling to do. Assassination chief among them.

"Well then," Halliser said, picking up his wine glass, "a toast to those in His Majesty's service." Weiss smiled and returned the toast, the clink of glass on glass echoing strangely in the space. Weiss drank deeply of the wine, enjoying the dry, hearty flavor. Across the table, Halliser smiled a red smile.

The silence stretched on for a long time before, "I'm sure that you understand by now the real reason I'm here."

Halliser visibly paled, but his mouth remained a hard-set line, and his slate-grey eyes were placid. "Yes," he said. "And I'm sure you lack understanding of _why_ I did it."

Weiss shook her head. "I do not need to know the _why._ What you've done is treason, in spite of whatever successes you've achieved earlier. Rallying the Mandalorians against the Empire - against their own leader who owes his position to us? How long did you think that it would remain your little, dark secret?"

Halliser was silent and the two guards at the lift quaked visibly as their hands drew ever closer and closer to their weapons.

Weiss sighed. "If it's any consolation, you covered your tracks remarkably well, and you're prepared. The poison in the wine was a nice touch, but you may have wanted to choose something a bit stronger than Sabrek venom. Cryptberries are my choice, but alas, it's too late for 'should have' and 'might have.' The guards aren't going to be any help, though."

The two men visibly paled at their mention and Halliser's eyes narrowed. "You're every bit as skillful as your file states, Lady Schnee."

She smiled sadly. "There is no file on me, Halliser. I'm better than that. Better than _you._ And despite whatever else you've done, your efforts in recruiting the Hutts will be invaluable to the next stage of His Majesty's plan. Take that for whatever it's worth to you, and die with some measure of peace."

Halliser smiled for the first time, the gesture just as sad as Weiss'. "For all that you're worth to His Majesty and the Empire, Lady Schnee, I fear I have no intention of dying today."

A final smiled was exchanged. "That's no longer your decision to make."

A press of a button kicked off the spiral. Two Imperial shock troopers slammed through the window, swinging down from above and sending a wave of glass cascading down on the diners. Weiss kicked back from the table, sending her chair spinning through the air toward Halliser. The former Agent knocked aside the projectile as he stood as well, and the nearest soldier met an unfortunate fate as Halliser gripped his helmet in both hands and twisted sharply. The shock trooper's neck twisted like a vine and a shove sent him flying out the recently "opened" window.

Halliser used the distraction to break toward the lift, jumping inside and slamming the panel. The lift closed and dropped as the two gunmen finally bared their weapons. The first one never managed to fire, as a burst of semi-automatic energy from the remaining shock trooper seared a hole in his chest and pushed him against the wall. The second squeezed off one shot from his blaster before Weiss was upon him. She twisted her arm around his, gripping the man's soldier and twisting until the joint dislocated. The man cried out in agony and Weiss wrestled the blaster from the bounty hunter's hands, pressing the muzzle against his temple and stifling his pain with a single pull of the trigger.

As the man slumped, the shock trooper approached and fired several shots from his carbine into the lift's control panel. The lift ground to a halt and Weiss smiled as the trooper handed her a vibrios word, wrapped in simple black cloth. She tucked the cloth into the waistline of her clothes and felt the familiar weight and heft of the weapon before nodding to the trooper. "Let's go."

The lift was ruined, so Weiss and the soldiers stepped over the cowering forms of the two waiters and used the stairs. The well was vacant and their footsteps echoed dully up the durocrete walls as the pair thundered down. After passing a few landings, an alarm blared through the stairwell. Red emergency lights lit the way and Weiss pressed the commlink sewn into the cuff of her outfit. "Report," she ordered sharply.

"Copy ma'am - target was last seen taking the lift down. He exited on the fifteenth floor and is heading toward the landing pad on the far side of the building."

"Copy," chimed in another. "I've got a view of the landing pad - he has a shuttle waiting. Permission to neutralize flight risk?"

"Granted," Weiss said. "Move to intercept but do not engage. Stop him, but keep him alive." A series of chirps bellied the trooper's affirmation, and Weiss stopped as they reached a heavy metal door marked with a fluorescent yellow "15." Weiss tried the console and swore at the automatically engaged lock. "Stand back," she ordered the trooper beside her. The man did as he was told and watched unreadably through the visor of his helmet as Weiss jammed the blade of her vibrosword into the control panel. A series of sparks erupted from the console before Weiss jimmied the blade a bit and the door slid open.

The two rushed through corridors, dodging around pairs and groups of people hastily evacuating the building as the alarm continued to ring through the halls. A Rodian swore in his own tongue at the sight of the two Imperials charging down the hall, but before he could raise his weapon to fire he was swept to the floor by the tide of people.

A blaster shot cleared a swath through the denizens as they leapt aside, and found the Rodian vulnerable. The shot seared through and the alien died as two more shock troopers emerged from a side corridor. Inclining their helmeted heads to the agent before them, Weiss pointed with her blade the direction that Halliser was supposedly running.

The group mobilized again, clearing a path through throngs of civilians that gradually petered out as they evacuated the building. A glowing sign marked a door to the landing pad up ahead, and Weiss nearly spoke when a pair of blaster shots lanced out of the red-tinted gloom. Weiss ducked under the first shot, which seared a hole in the durasteel floor and sent a cloud of smoke and sparks washing over the soldier immediately behind her. The other found its mark and one of the newly-arrived shock troopers fell to a heap on the floor, armor crackling around the place where the blaster shot had struck.

The aggressor leapt from the shadows, cruel armored hands slamming repeatedly into another of the soldiers. The man put up a valiant fight, but met his end as the third shock trooper at Weiss's side fired off a shot. The armored foe swung the grappled form of the soldier around and the Imperial let out a sigh as his comrade's shot slammed into his back.

The new foe dumped the body and lashed out at the soldier who had fired, a foot knocking the wind out of him and throwing the Imperial against the wall. His head knocked hard on the wall as he fell and lay still, eyes rolling back inside his helmet and his breath slowing to an almost-comatose state.

Weiss stood for a moment, calmly regarding this new foe. Heavy armor - exotic alloys overplayed with hardened ceramics and dyed a cruel red - covered him head-to-toe. A helmet hid his features, but merciless eyes gazed out from a slit visor. A Mandalorian. She should have figured.

The bred warrior darted forward again, a blade flashing in his hands as he engaged Weiss. The pair danced in the hallway amidst auxiliary lighting and the reek of ozone. The Mandalorian's blade was short and quick, and his form was excellent. But Weiss had been fighting with a sword since she was old enough to walk, and even now her father's words echoed in her mind.

_"Keep your back straight. Poor form is poor performance. Never trust your opponent to fight fair. Be ready for everything. Fight your opponent, not his blade."_

The next time the cruel knife came flashing at her head, Weiss was ready. Her body compressed like a spring and she glided under the blow, bringing her sword around and dragging the sharply-vibrating blade across the front of the Mandalorian's chestplate. The ceramics cracked and shattered and the metal beneath screamed in protest. She admired her handiwork as the two combatants backed off for a moment. Barely a rent in the metal. Mandalorian Iron, then. The fighter switched his blade from hand to hand a few times.

"You fight well," he said, voice ringing through the helmet's projector. "We of Mandalore respect that. But because you are strong, you must die."

Smiling and quoting the very man she hunted, Weiss said "I fear I have no intention of dying today." She flew forward, every second of their brief exchange of words having been spent identifying the warrior's weaknesses. The Mandalorian leapt back and parried Weiss' blow before crying out in pain at the burning sensation in his shoulder. Weiss's holdout blaster was still smoking as she drew back and lunged again, her blade homing in on the gaps between the warrior's armored plates.

The sword tip found its mark and sunk halfway to the hilt, the armored fighter coughing and his hands beating at the Imperial agent ineffectually until the life finally left his body.

Weiss drew her blade from the Mandalorian's corpse and stood, regulating her breathing for as long as she dared. A sound drew her focus but she relaxed her guard slightly upon realizing that the noise was caused by one of the Imperial troopers - the one who had struck the wall - stirring from his unconsciousness. He picked up his weapon and nodded to Weiss in silent verification of his state before the two of the, moved past the hallway of fresh corpses and to the door at the far end of the corridor.

As before, Weiss opened the door with the tip of her weapon and stepped outside just in time to be buffeted by a maelstrom of propwash from a shuttle preparing to lift off. The craft was bobbing slightly as it hovered over the deck and shots rang out as half a dozen shock troopers pumped carbine fire into the craft's hull.

Wasting no time, Weiss darted forward even as he companion joined the remaining soldiers in peppering the shuttle's sides. Putting all her energy forth, she leapt atop a pile of stacked crates and launched herself through the air. Her vibrosword crackled with energy as she swung the weapon out, digging the point into the hull of the craft and hanging on as it lurched.

Collecting herself again, she threw herself high into the air, wrenching her weapon free and landing like a dancer stop the ship's dorsal hull. Before Halliser could finish lifting off, she charged across the roof of the shuttle and swung around to straddle the cockpit. With a sneer, she drove her blade through the glass canopy. The tip of her sword caught the shuttle's pilot high in the chest and the craft leaned drunkenly as the man keeled over in the flight seat. Weiss leapt clear and landed gracefully on the platform again as the shuttle crashed down with a roar.

Motioning to the Imperials, Weiss advanced on the craft slowly, sword held before her. The sound of metal screaming drew her eye, and all weapons honed in on Sevrin Halliser as he stood, silhouetted by the dim light and the wreck of his escape craft.

"Moff Halliser," Weiss called. "You stand accused of the high crimes of treason and espionage against His Majesty, and the murder of agents of his great Empire. Surrender, and you will be granted a proper execution as befits one of your rank and status."

A silence stretched out as Halliser surveyed the scene before him. Several of his ribs had broken in the crash, and he was weary. He was in no position to fight, and he knew that the shock troopers who watched him now would not offer him any chance at escape. And even if he somehow managed to escape the troopers, Weiss Schnee would never let him escape. He was dead. He knew it.

"You're truly every bit as skillful as they say, Lady Schnee."

His hand darted to his belt and Weiss sighed as the muzzles of the troopers' carbines lit and barked in quick succession. Crimson blaster bolts lanced through Halliser's chest and he fell - dead before he hit the ground.

Shaking her head sadly, Weiss switched on her comm. "Bring a shuttle around - we're done here. Three empty seats."

* * *

The journey back to Dromund Kaas was uneventful and well-underway when Weiss finally deemed fit to send a message back to her handlers on the capital world. The remaining soldiers sat quietly in their jump seats as the ship passed through space. If they bore any moroseness for the deaths of their comrades in the Vertical City, they did not show it. Weiss waited patiently while the message went through, and a moment later the holographic image of a tall Pureblood in blood-red robes appeared. The image bore no color, but Weiss had glanced upon those robes with her own eyes. They were the robes of a member of the Dark Council.

"Agent Schnee," the Pureblood said, his voice oddly distorted by the Dark Side and the transmission alike. "I trust that the situation with Moff Halliser has been… dealt with?"

"Of course, Lord Vyrus. The traitor lies dead. His plans and schemes will wither on the stem, and the continued safety of His Majesty's empire can be assured for a while longer, at least. The Mandalorians will no longer be an issue."

The Sith nodded, the folds of his robe billowing. "Well done, Agent Schnee. You have done well, yet again. There is another matter that demands your attention, however."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Lord Vyrus. I am an instrument-"

"Of His Majesty's will, yes I know Agent, now _listen_. This task is not like any other you have undertaken before now. It is far more dangerous to you, and far more devastating to the Empire should you fail. The soldiers you took to Nar Shaddaa - how many remain in fit fighting condition?"

At this, each of the soldiers stirred. Their faces were not familiar to Weiss. She did not know these men, but they had served her well and each was trained to undergo missions that normal soldiers could not. "Seven remain, my Lord. All in peak condition."

"Good. They will accompany you on this next mission as well. Know well that it is very likely none of them will survive. The chance is that neither shall you. But as you say, you are an extension of His Majesty's will manifested - and so you shall go, on his orders."

Weiss' face was neutral, but her thoughts betrayed her as she spoke. "His Majesty asked for me… personally?"

Vyrus nodded again. "He watches you, Agent Schnee, though you do not recognize it. He sees your prowess, and knows that this is as much a trial for you as it is a matter of priority."

Weiss swallowed. So this was a test. A chance for His Majesty to put his greatest agent to work. She took a small breath and licked her lips before posing her final question.

"What is this mission I am undertaking?"

Vyrus smiled within the shadow of his hood - a grotesque sight that put Weiss' nerves on edge more than every blade or blaster, fang or claw she had ever stared down. "There is… a woman. A member of my fold."

_A Sith? What does this mean… He doesn't mean for me to…_

"Recently she has… broken faith with His Majesty and my order. We fear she means to go to the Republic - to the Jedi - and divulge secrets which could harm the empire. You are going to stop that.

"You are going to find her, and kill her."

* * *

**AN - **Oooh, cliffhanger! Yep, Weiss is an Imperial Agent. Are you really surprised? This is the first of many times that she'll showcase her skills, but don't worry - next time it won't be so easy for her. I have big plans for our favorite Ice Queen, and you'll all get to watch them unfold. Lucky you. Lucky me. Lucky us.

**Discrepancies and Notes**

_Imperial Shock Troopers_ \- Oh yeah, I've got plans for these guys. I know OC's are a turn-off for a lot of people, and I make every assurance that they won't drag focus from the MC's. I'm viewing them almost as Weiss' personal squadron, and that will come into play later on. Imagine them as being a bit better than regular Imperial Soldier but not nearly on the level of an Agent.

_Weiss Reporting to a Dark Council Member_ \- I wasn't 100% sure about this, but in my head Weiss is a cut above even the usual Imperial Agents (who ultimately report to higher-ups within the Imperial Military itself) and it made more sense to me that she'd be acting as more-or-less a personal agent of the Sith Emperor. Almost like an early form of the Emperor's Hands.

**Next time, we introduce our third protagonist (I'll let you guess who). Expect a quieter chapter with some world building and a bit of foreshadowing for future plotlines. Until then, please drop by with a review and thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Blake Belladonna had not seen the stars in a long time.

Clouds, yes. And rain, thunderstorms high in the sky booming down across the swamps and jungles and echoing among the high-rise buildings of Kaas city, and storms of wind and water and light that filled the ever-present gloom of the Imperial Capital. But she had not gazed upon the stars for a long time.

She strode across the cool, rolled durasteel of the bridge and gazed up through the viewports at the distant, shimmering diamonds.

"They're beautiful," she said aloud.

She could practically hear the gears in DS-71's metal skull whirring. "I cannot recognize beauty, nor feelings of wonder or amazement. However, I can analyze those stars and plot another hyperspace jump, if you desire, mistress."

"Stop calling me that," Blake said as she rested her hand on her chin and looked out.

"Of course, mistress."

She sighed. Droids. "So does that mean the hyperdrive is fixed? It took a bad hit when we tried to jump from Dromund."

The droid looked at her before returning its attention to the controls. "I never said that we would be able to jump to any of those systems; merely that I could plot a course."

Blake sighed again. "What planet is that?" she asked, gesturing to the immense white and brown orb filling the bottom starward corner of the viewport. 71 was silent for a moment before jerking like a driver hitting the brakes too hard.

"Harloen. A planet and system lightly policed by Imperial law and order. Reportedly a haven for smugglers and other outlaws in its rugged southern hemisphere, which is coincidentally also considered the swoop-bike racing capital of the Outer Rim territories."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Great. How lightly protected is lightly protected?"

"I detect a large Imperial outpost at the planetary capital, and two frigates in high orbit over the main continent."

She nodded. "Avoid those frigates and scan for a landing zone as far from the capital as you can get. We'll pawn this ship and hopefully get our hands on something less conspicuous than an Imperial shuttle." The droid chirped in acknowledgement and Blake strode to her cabin, immediately aft of the bridge. The door slid open at her behest and she sat at the edge of the simple, military-style bed there. Usually, a cabin like this would serve as quarters for an officer. The interior was spartan but not totally barren, and a duraglass viewport overhead gave anyone on their back in the bunk a clear view of the space beyond.

She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. How long had it been since she had slept? She had fled Kaas City two days earlier... or was it three? Time was difficult to tell in the emptiness of hyperspace travel, and frankly, she was amazed they had made it as far as they did. During their flight an Imperial turbolaser had all-but vaporized the hyperdrive core, and both the young acolyte and her droid companion knew that it was only a matter of time before the core failed.

Lying back and gazing up at the vast, unknowable expanse of the galaxy beyond the viewport, Blake marvelled at how quickly things changed. Her eyes closed but for a moment and she found herself in a field. The air was energetic - electric - fresh with the scents of thunder and blood.

She heard a sound and wheeled just in time to see the hunters come over the hill. The droids were immense - two-meter tall, three-legged killing machines that tracked her in an instant and leveled weapons to fire. Even as their blaster cannons barked and flashes of red darted across the space, her hands were suddenly filled. The lightsabers sprang to life with a simultaneous hiss and the shots were deflected harmlessly with an almost-carefree twist of each wrist. The barrage continued, but Blake was on the offensive now. She charged forward, deflecting shots as she went. One blast refracted off her lightsaber and returned directly to the source, the charged energy not even seeming to phase the lead droid as it was struck full-force.

She leapt into the air, somersaulting and slashing downward with both lightsabers as her feet found solid ground again. The same droid that had been struck by the blaster bolt fell to the ground in two separate pieces. She leapt backwards as the other two fired at her, their bolts searing each other instead. She threw one lightsaber from her left hand, watching the blade sink to the hilt in the skull-plate of another droid as she reflected several more shots from the other. A surge of force power brought her thrown blade back to her hand, and a vicious cross-slash heralded the end of the last droid.

"Impressive," came the voice from behind her, quiet and menacing as always. Her master stood there, black and red cowl hiding his face behind a veil of shadows. He nudged one of the fallen droids with the toe of his boot. "Very impressive," he repeated. "But cowardly. You're clearly capable of holding your own, so why run? Why not stand and fight?"

She was ready for his questioning; the battle was never the end of the conflict with him. "Advantageous position. When I first encountered the droids, the area was much more enclosed. Maneuvering was difficult and my enemies had the advantage of surprise."

"But here you were fighting an uphill battle - the oldest example of a tactically inferior position. What have you to say on that matter?"

"You know my fighting style as well as anyone, master. I fight best when afforded plenty of space to move - outpacing my foes. The elevation had nothing to do with it. The open space gave me the necessary room to evade my foes attacks and strike back with optimum capability."

Her master nodded thoughtfully before stepping closer to her. The air before her face was suddenly filled with a blazing red energy, the blade of her master's lightsaber crackling mere centimeters from her face.

"I had those droids ambush you so that you would adapt to your surroundings and fight them under the circumstances you were presented; not so that you could run and face them on your own terms. You defeated them because you manipulated them, but your foes will not always be so easy to deceive. Remember that."

"Yes, master." She allowed herself to look crestfallen only after he had departed, angrily kicking one of the defunct droids and following the billowing robes of her master.

Time moved by like the snapping of fingers, and when again her mind focused on the past she could feel the heat of her opponent's lightsaber as it cut past her face. Swearing, she recovered from her leaning-duck and swung both her blades around at her foe in a tight arc, bashing until he was forced to afford her some breathing space.

The two combatants circled warily, Blake's own dual lightsabers steady as could be while her opponent's single weapon twitched nervously in time with his hand's own sporadic movements. From the edges of the ring, the gathered acolytes, warriors and the two fighters' own masters watched with anticipation.

Blake's move was the next one. She darted forward, hopping into the air and swinging her right hand blade wide. Treyus' own blade touched off the incoming one before he pivoted and blocked her follow-up stroke. He swung his own blade again and Blake caught it off her right-hand saber before delivering a heavy kick into her fellow apprentice's sternum. The Lorridian staggered backwards, bringing his lightsaber back to a defensive position just in time to avoid being struck by both Blake's blades in a single downward stroke.

"Not good enough!" Treyus' master called from nearby. "Fight back! Strike her!" Setting his jaw into a hard line, Treyus lashed out, pushing against Blake and spinning in the air, his heel sailing towards Blake's head. Letting go of her left hand blade and allowing the lightsaber spin in midair between them as time seemed to slow, she raised her left arm and felt the impact of Treyus' heel striking her forearm.

Lashing out with her right arm, she sent the tip of her lightsaber soaring to Treyus' throat. He leaned back just in time, but the top collar of his tunic was still singed by the passing blade. He cursed loudly and twisted away from Blake's grasp, a burst of force from his open palm sending her recoiling.

The crowd cried out in excitement as the duel resumed, sabers clashing in the dim light of the training room. Every crash sent a thunderclap rolling across the open floor. Treyus swung overhand and Blake pushed the blade away with her left hand before swinging across with her right, the tip of the weapon seeming to surge an even deeper blood red as the beam made contact.

Treyus called out and his lightsaber fell from his grasp, deactivating on the floor as he clutched the smoking wound in his side. He looked up, eyes filling with fear and hatred as Blake's blades leveled at his throat.

A hush fell over the hall and Blake could hear footsteps approaching, even as she never took her eyes from Treyus' kneeling form. The voice of her master in her ear was like metal fingers doing a hand-jig up her spine.

"Finish it."

She felt her hands begin to shake as Treyus' eyes gazed up at her. There was no fear there. Only cold acceptance and rage. "Do it!" he hissed. "Do it or you'll kill us both!"

"Blake," her master said. "Do not hesitate. He would not. Strike him down and be done with it."

"I…"

"Do it!"

She felt the palpable tension as she slowly lowered her blades. She could practically hear her master grinding his teeth and a few acolytes in the crowd jeered before their masters silenced them. Treyus swore and began to rise before the pain in his side brought him back to his knees, crying out in agony. Blake's master kicked him heartily in the same side as the wound and glared at him as he sprawled out.

"Crawl to a medic and get your worthless hide sewn back together. As for you," he said, turning back to Blake. "We will have words on this matter."

Time blurred once more and Blake felt the cold stone of the Kaas city street beneath her as she walked, huddled deep within the folds of a night-black cloak. Speeder cars hummed past overhead and walkers on the street paid her no heed as they went about their business. The building was squat, unassuming and grey - just like everything else on this planet. Faint light streamed from a few aged streetlamps and Blake checked over her shoulder for the hundredth time as she knocked rapidly. When nobody answered, she passed her hand over the locking mechanism, a pulse of force energy sending the tumblers spinning into place as the old-fashioned door slid open before her.

The dim interior of the warehouse was lit by outside light, and Blake froze as she saw the blaster leveled at her chest. Her lips curled into a snarl. "Hope you're a better shot than you are a swordsman, Treyus."

The acolyte looked at her, seething with rage. The blaster never lowered. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow a hole in your head. After all, if I'm going to die I might as well kill you first."

Cocked an eyebrow, ears twitching suspiciously. "And who's going to kill you, Treyus?"

The Lorridian laughed - a hoarse, barking sound. "For all your skill, you're as naive as you are pretentious. I'm not like you, Blake; I'm not afraid to kill. If I had taken the upper hand today, you'd be dead and I'd be one step closer to becoming a true warrior. Instead, your weakness has painted a target on both of us."

"That's not true!" she cried, taking a step forward and letting her hand fall slowly to one of her lightsabers as Treyus' blaster re-focused. "We're acolytes - the future of the Sith empire! If they killed us, they'd be hurting themselves and themselves alone."

Treyus laughed again - a sound she was rapidly coming to hate. "You think that we _matter_ to them? We're as expendable as the droids they send against us in training. You ought to remember one of the first things they taught us, Blake: the force is _power,_ the greatest there is in the galaxy. But if you're not willing to use that power then it's worthless - baggage. And that's all we are, too."

She wanted to argue - wanted to scream that her master would never allow… he'd never do something like… did she even believe it? Every time he opened his mouth she hated him a little more and realized in increments that he was right. But what if this was just another test? To see if they would break and run instead of standing and fighting like real Sith warriors?

Her eyes darted to the pile of aging crates that Treyus huddled by. A bag was sitting there - open, its contents strewn about. Ration packs, a medical kit, spare clothing, blaster packs…

"You're leaving," she said, realization hitting her suddenly. Treyus nodded, the muzzle of his blaster bobbing with the action.

"I am not going to die in this swamp. I'll run. That's the thing they don't figure; they've given us this power and taught us to use it, never thinking that we'll use it _against them_."

Blake shook her head. "You're a fool, Treyus. That's _exactly_ what they think. What they expect - what they want! The power struggle; that's what matters. They'll hunt you down and kill you no matter where you go."

The near-human shook his head in turn, eyes flashing in the dim light. "Maybe that's the case for you. But I'm better than you, if for no other reason than because I'm not ruled by fear of my own abilities." Finally, after a moment of wavering on the razor's edge, the blaster lowered. "Go," he said. "Tell no one you saw me here. I'm leaving now. Don't try to follow me."

Even as he said the words and finished packing the bag, Blake's sensitive ears were assaulted with the roar of engines. She turned and looked out onto the same drive she had approached the warehouse on, where pedestrians were scattering in the wake of the landing of a pair of Imperial dropships.

Treyus swore loudly, the blaster reappearing. "You led them right to me, you bitch!" Shots seared the air and Blake rolled out of the way, ducking behind a pile of crates. His courage overcoming his fear, Treyus slung his bag over his shoulder and bolted out the way Blake had come, firing a few wild shots in her direction as insurance as he ran headlong into the square.

Already, Imperial soldiers were dropping from the landing ramps of the craft, leveling rifles at the lone figure in a billowing travel cloak. "Halt!" a soldier bearing an officer's bars on his shoulder called. "By order of Imperial authorities, you are under arrest for the high crime of treason. Surrender and you will be granted fair trial!"

In response, Treyus snapped off a shot with his blaster, the plasma boring a hole through the captain's faceplate and the skull it protected. The man dropped wordlessly to the pavement and the remaining soldiers opened fire. Blake watched from her hiding place as Treyus rolled out of the way, firing volleys of crimson bolts into the crowd of troopers. When a stray shot blew the weapon from his hands, his lightsaber appeared before him and began reflecting shots back at his aggressors. For all his talk and bravado though, Treyus was still only a student of the Sith codices. Blake winced and resisted the urge to cry out as he faltered, energy bolts spearing through his only momentarily vulnerable form as though he were made of paper. He dropped soundlessly to the ground, his lightsaber flickering and dying beside him.

But the soldiers did not stop. Two checked Treyus' still form as the rest of the group advanced slowly on the building. A man with a lieutenant's insignia was leaning on another trooper, nursing a blaster wound to his shoulder. "Find her. We know she's here. Lord Taurus ordered them both dead and I'd rather deal with a couple scared kids than a pissed-off Sith lord."

The trooper's words bored into Blake's skull as she huddled by the pile of crates. "_Lord Taurus ordered them both dead…"_

_Master…_

She stood, holding her hands up in the air and the wall of plastiques and metalloids in front of her jumped before leveling their rifles. "Hands up!" called one of the nearer soldiers.

"Don't do anything stupid, girly," advised another. "You saw what happened to your friend."

"Wait!" she cried. "Don't fire! I am not your enemy; I'm not with Treyus! I wasn't trying to run, I came here to talk him out of running!"

There was a moment of indecision while a few of the men at the front rank of the group looked at eachother before their officer snarled behind his helmet. "I'm not putting my neck on the block for her. Open fire!"

"No!" she cried, but it was already too late. For both sides, it was a matter of survival. The front row of soldiers fired in unison, waves of crimson blaster bolts frying the air between them and Blake. Her lightsabers were up in an instant, every twitch of her wrist refracting one of the lethal rays back at the group of soldiers.

_Forgive me…_ She leapt forward, blades whirring as she cartwheeled amidst searing death. She felt the brief push of resistance as her right-hand saber passed through the shoulder of the nearest man, his cry shattering the space around her as the tip of her lightsaber blazed a glowing scar down his torso. Her left wrist twisted and a shot reflected back into the chest of the man who had fired it, the soldier flopping backwards wordlessly as the battle continued to rage around his lifeless body.

Her mind raced. She needed to go. To flee. To get away. Her droid - DS-71 - he could pilot. She just needed a ship. After that where would she go? Where could she go? Time for that later; right now she just had to survive. She broke from the crowd of aggressors, a burst of force staggering several of her attackers, before she sprinted off towards the docks.

Suddenly, the memory shattered. Blake winced, pressing the heel of her palm to her temple as a searing, red-tinted pain blossomed there. The thing she felt there was malevolent; evil. It bored into her skull and sent shivers down her spine, and within the presence she understood why she was so uneasy. It was not just familiar, it was watching her. Searching for her. And it found her.

She jumped up, blowing through her door and sprinting back to the bridge. "Get ready to make the jump to hyperspace!" she cried to 71. The droid looked at her in the closest thing it could manage to confusion.

"Mistress, I have already explained. The hyperdrive is damaged too severely to be repaired in-transit." She swore.

"Then do _something_; the Imperials are tracking us!" Suddenly, an alarm blared on the console and Blake looked at it suspiciously, fearing she knew exactly what it meant.

71 confirmed her fears. "The two Imperial frigates I detected earlier have made an adjustment to their course. They are on intercept trajectory."

"Get us out of her, 71!" She jumped into the chair on the raised platform just aft of the pilot's seat. She punched a few glowing buttons and flexed her fingers around the control stick that sat before a now-lit viewscreen. She pushed the stick up, down and side-to-side, testing the viewfinder of the cannon. "Give me a report, 71!"

"The frigates are holding at defensive position over the planet, facing us broadside. The nearer of the two ships has just deployed a squadron of fighters - they are headed toward our position."

"I want you to plot a course for the planet's surface - the southern hemisphere. Broadcast a distress beacon on every channel flagged non-Imperial, and get ready to take evasive maneuvers."

_Are you watching, master? You always said I was weak because I wasn't willing to do what I had to in order to survive. Well now I'm going to live and get away; no matter what I have to do._

"Mistress, the first wing of fighters is closing. Estimated time before we are in their effective weapon's range: 15 seconds."

She flexed her fingers again, centering the turret on the distant foe and watching as an array of red squares appeared on her viewfinder. She focused on the nearest one, the border of the square shifting to an uncomfortable yellow color while a child sounded from the panel. She squeezed the trigger of the weapon.

A stream of green plasma bolts sprayed from the cannon, and in the distance the first fighter disintegrated into a wave of dust and fragments. One of many red squares disappeared from the viewfinder, and she adjusted her targeting before firing again.

The ship bucked and rolled around her as 71's combat suite kicked into effect, the shuttle swinging between the incoming Imperial fire. Blake laid on the trigger, watching the Imperial ships weave between her own assault and buzz past the slower shuttle. She rotated the cannon and blew a fighter to pieces as it swung past, feeling a bead of sweat trace its way down her forehead as she continued to fire.

The fighters swung around and a bank of crimson fire raked over the shuttle. Blake struggled to hold on as the ship bucked. "Shields at 55%," 71 chimed.

"Thank you, 71! Now, if you don't mind, try to keep us from getting hit again! How long until we break atmo?"

"Entrance to atmosphere in approximately forty-seven seconds. But Mistress, I must warn you, the Imperial frigates are holding position."

"Let me worry about the frigates; you just keep us from getting blown to dust!" She rotated the cannon ever-so-slightly and closed her eyes for a moment, honing in on her target before her eyes snapped open again and a burst of cannon-fire vaporized another pursuer. Realising that her window was closing, she swung the cannon and took a long look at the two Imperial frigates rapidly growing in the viewscreen. Each one bristled with turbolasers, the heavy batteries already beginning to track the errant shuttle.

"Mistress, I have access to the full statistics of every vessel currently in use by the Imperial navy. Those frigates are armed with more than twenty heavy turbolasers apiece, a single of which would completely disintegrate this craft if a single shot were to land. Based on this and our state of pursuit, I calculate our odds of survival at-"

"71, so help me, shut down your vocabulator or I will have you dismantled and sold for scrap!" She leapt out of the gunner's chair and nimbly headed down to the co-pilot's seat, grabbing the controls and switching manual flight from 71's console to her own. "Prepare countermeasures and divert all available power to forward thrusters."

"Mistress, if we take a hit from any source when our power is diverted-"

"Just do it, 71!" She closed her eyes as the shuttle hurtled toward her target; a gap directly between the two frigates. Barely wide enough for the ship to pass through, but it was their best shot. If they tried to go ventrally or dorsally around the capital ships, the flak guns on the frigates would blow them to smithereens before they could break atmo.

The gap got closer and closer with every passing moment and the whole ship began to rattle as their forward acceleration grew dangerously close to the ship's threshold. She opened her eyes again and tweaked the controls just slightly, the shuttle gliding through the gap with meters to spare on either side. "71, divert power back to the deflectors and get us down to the planet's-"

The ship shook violently and Blake's sensitive ears pounded as a the shockwave nearly threw her from her seat. A klaxon blared and red auxiliary lighting filled the cockpit.

"Mistress, one of the fighters has landed a direct hit. Our forward thrusters are damaged, and life-support has also taken a hit. Our power core is also critical, and the ship is leaking fuel and coolant. On the bright side, we have entered the planet's atmosphere, and are on course to land near the settlement of Beronate."

"First good news I've heard all day, 71," Blake said through gritted teeth as she struggled to maintain control of the craft. A haze of burning oxygen formed around the viewport and the cockpit grew uncomfortably hot as the close layer dissipated, giving way to a barren expanse of ground in various shades of ground. Most troubling of all was the rapid approach of the landmass, far faster than the former acolyte or her droid companion could account for.

_Is this it, then?_ she wondered. _Was my master right? Am I too weak to survive in the real galaxy?_

She closed her eyes for the third time, taking a deep breath and feeling the strength that she had always drawn from hatred, fear and pain rush through her. Now though, it wasn't any of these things that fueled her. For the first time, she was driven by her own desire not just to survive, but to live and see peace in her life.

_Watch closely, master. _

As the ground hurtled closer and closer and the alarm grew louder in her ears, Blake strapped herself into the flight seat and diverted all remaining power to the forward inertial dampeners. Firing on all cylinders, she tilted the flight controls up and breathed deeply as the ground finally arrived. The shock of impact felt as though she had taken an artillery shell to the chest, and she felt as though her neck would snap clear of her shoulders. She remained though, hands glued to the controls as the ship dug a trench along the rocky earth.

The craft struck a large boulder and jumped several meters back into the air. As it descended again, she felt the weight of fatigue and expense overtaking her. The darkness crept in from the edges of her vision, and she smiled manically as the world went black.

* * *

**AN - **Whew. That… took longer than expected. I apologize for that, but I hope you enjoyed. There was a lot to fit into this chapter and I hope the actions served to keep it from becoming too much of an exposition dump. Anyway, Blake is (obviously) going to be a very important character, especially once we get all the characters introduced and their stories start overlapping.

It's a matter of finesse, balancing this story, Bellringer and everything else. I haven't had nearly as much time as I thought I would, now that I'm unemployed, but I'm getting work done when I can. In a couple weeks time I'll be going to visit my brother and sister-in-law, and once that time comes I'll have plenty of time to sit down and crack out some good chapters. I apologize for the wait, but I promise I haven't forgotten about you guys or this story.

**Discrepancies and Notes**

**Next time, our fourth and final "introductory" chapter, where we get to meet the last of our protagonists. If you haven't figured out who it is by now, I honestly can't help you. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
